Toy water-borne projectile



Aug. 15, 1950 A. THORP TOY WATERBORNE PRQJECTILE Filed June 25. 1948 f l Attorney Patented Aug. 15, 1950 Allan Thorp, .Formby,

Burroughs and Company England, a British company England, assignor to Arthur Limited, Formby,

' Application June 25, 1948,"Serial No. 35,251

In Great Britain July 19, 1947 Claims.

This invention concerns toy waterborne projectiles such as torpedoes.

An object of the invention is to provide a toy which on impact in water with a solid surface will provide a realistic effect representing an explosion.

According to this invention the toy has a displaceable portion near the front thereof adapted to be urged by spring means in a forward direction when a release element at the front of the toy makes contact with a solid surface. The displaceable portion is preferably captive relative to the remainder of the toy.

Part or parts of the toy may be made adjustable, within limits, as regards the position thereof relative to the remainder of the toy, for instance a balance weight may be adjustably positioned within limits on the inside of the keel, whereby variation in the position of the centre of gravity of the toy may be effected.

The invention will be described further by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawing in which the figure shows a toy torpedo in side elevation.

The torpedo comprises a body II and a displaceable striker I2 mounted relative to the body by way of hairpin spring [3. The under side of the torpedo nose carries two aligned abutment plates l4 adapted to be engaged respectively by opposite end portions of a pin l5. The pin I5 is fixed in the lower end of a release lever It pivoted on a rivet H to an eye at the front of a locking rod Hi. The locking rod I8 is engageable in a longitudinal groove centrally disposed in the upper surface of the striker and pivotally mounted on a peg crossbar [9 extending transversely in the body,

The front portion of the body is centrally slotted to allow movement of bar l8 and of spring l3. When the uppermost front portion of lever It makes contact with a solid surface such as that presented by a toy ship, release of striker i2 is effected, since pin I5 moves forwardly clear of the. abutment plates [4 along bar 18 to be drawn upwardly into the position indicated in chain dotted lines, with simultaneous forward movement of the striker towards the position indicated in chain dotted lines. Impact of the striker upon the solid surface under water causes a surge or spray, giving a realistic explosion effeet.

The torpedo described above is driven by an elastic band or assembly of bands 20 adapted to be protected against entanglement with weeds or the like by a keel plate 2i of U section metal.

This keel plate is at will engageable in a slot at the base of the body and is pivotally mounted on a crossbar 22 near its front end. The propeller 23 has a rearwardly projecting square portion 23a engageable in a square hole in a rudder 24. The rudder is slidably mounted on a, rearwardly projectin rod 25 and is arranged so as to be capable of locking the propeller against rotation when in a forward position as shown in the figure. When, however, the rudder is moved rearwardly relative to the torpedo body, the propeller is free to revolve.

I declare that what I claim is:

1. A toy torpedo comprising a body portion, a recess in the top surface of said body portion, a striker shaped complementarily to said recess, spring means fixed to said body portion and said striker and urging the striker out of the recess, a locking rod pivoted to the body portion, a release element pivoted to said locking rod, and abutment means on the .body portion engageable by said release element whereby the striker is retained in the recess by the locking rod against the action of the spring means, said release element being so shaped and pivoted that contact thereof with a solid surface causes disengagement between the release element and the abutment means so that the striker is sprung out of the recess under the action of the spring means.

2. A toy torpedo as set forth in claim 1 and in which the said recess is situated near the nose of the torpedo and symmetrically with respect to the middle line plane thereof.

3. A toy torpedo as set forth in claim 2 and in which the locking rod is pivoted to the body portion about a. transverse axis for movement in the middle line plane of the torpedo, and the striker and the top surface of the body portion forwardly of the striker are centrally grooved to accommodate said locking rod.

4. A toy torpedo comprising a body portion, an assembly of elastic bands in said body portion, a propeller shaft driven by said assembly of elastic bands and having a square shank rear end portion, a propeller fixed to said shaft, a rudder bar fixed to the body portion and a rudder pivoted to the rudder bar, said rudder having a square hole adapted to engage releasably with the said rear end portion of the propeller shaft.

5. A toy torpedo comprising a body portion, a recess in the top surface of said body portion, a striker shaped complementarily to said recess, spring means fixed to said body portion and said striker and urging the striker out of the recess,

3 a locking rod pivoted to the body portion, a release element pivoted to the locking rod, abutment means on the body portion engageable by said release element whereby the striker is retained in the recess by the locking rod against the action of the spring means, said release element being so shaped and pivoted that contact thereof with a, solid surface causes disengagement between the release element and the abutment means so that the striker is spr ng out of the recess under the action of the spring means, an assembly of elastic bands in said body portion, a propeller shaft driven by said assembly of elastic bands and having a square shank rear end portion, a. propeller fixed to said shaft, a rudder bar fixed to the body portion and a rudder pivoted to the rudder bar, said rudder having a square hole adapted to engage releasably with the said rear end portion of the propeller shaft.

ALLAN THORP.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,116,215 Bergh Nov. 3, 1914 1,145,420 Hugh July 6, 1915 1,247,108 Haberland Nov. 20, 1917 1,288,813 Blackshear Dec. 24, 1918 

